System and method for managing medical facility procedures and records

ABSTRACT

The invention facilitates the efficient administration of medical offices and patient records including visual coordination of room, patient, and task status indicators. The invention also enables improved document review and transcription management.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The invention relates generally to a system and method for the efficientadministration of medical offices and patient records. Moreparticularly, the invention relates to web-based, networked softwareapplications for managing medical offices, records, billing, calendaringand physician ordered tasks.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

A routine visit by a patient to a doctor typically involves numerousmedical office staff members and a range of procedures anddocumentation. Management of the myriad tasks and records involved insuch visits has long been an involved and difficult process. Doctorshave traditionally relied upon staff members to retrieve patientdocumentation and to obtain x-rays or other information from otheroffices or labs. Likewise, a doctor's request for lab work, surgery, orother procedures is typically coordinated by staff members with thedoctor relying on verbal or written communication with staff throughoutand following patient visits.

The delay and potential for error inherent in such conventional verbaland written communications often results in unnecessary delay forpatients and care providers alike. Doctors typically review patientprofile documentation before an examination. More timely notice of apatient's medical profile in preparation for a patient's visit couldincrease patient flow-through. Additionally, paper records inevitablybecome incomplete or missing as portions or all of a file is movedbetween the front desk, examination room, labs, and offsite provideroffices. Paper systems are further deficient in that they requiremultiple copies for simultaneous viewing of records.

With a paper system or a closed office network, Physicians may not beable to access vital patient information when they are out of theoffice. Likewise, prior systems typically provided limited file exportcapabilities, often requiring accessing and printing from a number ofseparate software applications or databases. File export is necessary,for example, when a patient requests a copy of all or portions of herfile or when a referral specialist requests a complete history for apatient's condition.

Paper systems are inherently prone to many types of errors. Omitted orinaccurate medication records could be potentially life threatening. Forexample, an omitted medication on a chart may lead to a harmful druginteraction. Additionally, omitted or inaccurate billing records maylead to lost charges for services. For example, a physician may performa number of billable services and forget to record each service on apaper chart ticket.

There has, therefore, been a movement in the industry towards electronicrecords keeping and office management and real time interaction withstaff and records databases. Most so called electronic managementsystems require proprietary client software installed on individual workstations making remote access from home or offsite labs difficult.Typically, efficient office management requires a number of separateproprietary systems, creating redundancy and incompatibility issues.There is, therefore, a need for an efficient, integrated, web-basedoffice management product providing improved user communications anduser friendly, secure access from any internet ready workstation.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

The invention generally provides a web-based office management softwareapplication that yields improved efficiency and communications betweenphysicians, staff members, and lab technicians. An exemplary embodimentincludes a web-based office management software application, hosted onan internet accessible server. The server connects various userterminals to a central records database and to the other user terminals.Color coordination (or any other indicia) of examination roomidentifiers on user displays continually (or intermittently) conveys atleast one of whether a room has been assigned to a patient, who theattending physician is, what tasks the physician has ordered (e.g.x-rays, casts, blood tests), and the status of those tasks. For example,a “room identifier” color (or other indicator) may change uponcompletion of each of multiple ordered tasks. Reversion of the roomidentifier color to the physician's color indicates that all (or acertain portion of) ordered tasks have been completed. The server may beaccessible remotely from internet ready terminals including wireless orportable terminals such as a doctor's tablet PC or other handhelddevice. The portability and connectivity of physician terminals allowsphysicians to be in real time contact with staff and technicians withimmediate access to patient records. Accordingly, physicians may requestprocedures, records, prescriptions, and even schedule follow-up matterswithout leaving the examination room and without relying on verbalcommunication or paper requests to staff members.

Other features of the invention include improved records keepingallowing users to upload documents and images to patient files to beviewed and supplemented by other authorized users. Integrated documentmanagement applications allow users to place documents such as, forexample, faxes, transcriptions and completed task reports, in electronicuser mailboxes for user review or directly in patient files. This systemimproves the workflow and patient safety in medical care facilities.Wait time may thus be reduced for both patients and medical staff whilesafety may be increased by more reliable communication and recordkeeping.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete understanding of the invention may be derived byreferring to the detailed description and claims when considered inconnection with the Figures, wherein like reference numbers refer tosimilar elements throughout the Figures, and:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing various components of an exemplarymedical office network according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is an exemplary flow chart illustrating color coordination stepsin accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a screen shot of exemplary color coding and task schedulingsystems;

FIG. 4 is a screen shot of an exemplary front desk management system;and

FIG. 5 is a screen shot of an exemplary documents management system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The detailed description of exemplary embodiments of the inventionherein makes reference to the accompanying drawings, which show theexemplary embodiment by way of illustration. While these exemplaryembodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilledin the art to practice the invention and reveal the best mode of doingso, it should be understood that other embodiments may be realized andthat logical and mechanical changes may be made without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the invention. Thus, the detailed descriptionherein is presented for purposes of illustration only and not oflimitation. For example, the steps recited in any of the method orprocess descriptions may be executed in any order and are not limited tothe order presented.

For the sake of brevity, conventional data networking, applicationdevelopment and other functional aspects of the systems (and componentsof the individual operating components of the systems) may not bedescribed in detail herein. Furthermore, the connecting lines shown inthe various figures contained herein are intended to represent exemplaryfunctional relationships and/or physical couplings between the variouselements. It should be noted that many alternative or additionalfunctional relationships or physical connections may be present in apractical system.

The various system components discussed herein may include one or moreof the following: a host server or other computing systems including aprocessor for processing digital data; a memory coupled to the processorfor storing digital data; an input digitizer coupled to the processorfor inputting digital data; an application program stored in the memoryand accessible by the processor for directing processing of digital databy the processor; a display device coupled to the processor and memoryfor displaying information derived from digital data processed by theprocessor; and a plurality of databases.

In general, the invention provides efficient integration of medicalfacilities management, patient records management, patient calendaringand billing, task management, and user communication. The inventionincreases patient flow-through by optimizing communications betweenvarious users by color coding room identifiers according to room/patientstatus and the status of associated tasks ordered by the attendingphysician.

Turning to the drawings, FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary medicalfacility management network 200, including a host server 202, varioususer interface terminals 204 A-F, a patient records database 206, awireless access point 208, an input digitizer 214 and connections to theinternet 210 and other inputs such as a fax server 212. Server 202includes a processor for processing digital data and a memory coupled tosaid processor for storing digital data, and an application programstored in said memory and accessible by said processor for directingprocessing of digital data by said processor.

“Users” may include any authorized person, such as, for example, anyphysician, office or medical staff member, technician, care provider,nurse, assistant, transcriptionist, or any other medical professional,or administrator. As used herein, the terms “user”, “physician”,“technician”, “staff”, “patient”, or “assistant” may be usedinterchangeably with each other, and each shall mean any appropriateperson, entity, machine, hardware, software or business. Each user isequipped with a computing device in order to interact with the system.Office and medical staff have computing units in the form of personalcomputers, although other types of computing units may be used includinglaptops, notebooks, hand held computers, set-top boxes, cellulartelephones, touch-tone telephones and the like. The medical office hasaccess to a computing unit implemented in the form of a computer-server,although other implementations are contemplated by the invention, suchas a mini-computer, a PC server, a network of computers located in thesame or different geographic locations, or the like.

User terminals 204 may include any hardware and/or software suitablyconfigured to connect to server 202 through any networking means knownin the art. While the disclosure makes frequent reference to “terminal”,practitioners will appreciate that any computing device capable oftransmitting data to and receiving data from one or more other computingdevices may be equally applicable. Exemplary user terminals 204 mayinclude a front desk terminal 204 A, an exam room terminal 204 B, anx-ray lab terminal 204 C, a cast or blood lab terminal 204 D, a wirelessTablet PC terminal 204 E, and a remote terminal 204 F connected to thenetwork through the internet.

Any of terminals 204 A-F may be connected to server 202 through aprivate office network, through the public internet, or by means of abluetooth, cellular, or wi-fi access point 208 or other wirelesstechnologies. Access point 208 may include use of WEP keys or any othersecurity means known or developed in the art. Additional securityfeatures are discussed later. Portable Tablet PC terminal 204 E isparticularly useful where physicians or staff are attending to multiplepatients in multiple rooms and require immediate access to patientrecords and instant communication with other staff members andtechnicians. Portable terminals like Tablet PC 204 E eliminate redundantactivities such as converting paper notes into electronic documents forattachment to patient files. Notes, and even dictations may be instantlycaptured and associated electronically with a patient file and may thenbe processed by staff members even before the office visit is completed.

Remote terminal 204 F may be any offsite terminal such as, for example,a physicians home computer, a computer at a hotel, or a computer atanother office, clinic, or hospital. A significant advantage of aweb-based application is that it may be accessed from any internet readyterminal without the need to download proprietary software.

As those skilled in the art will appreciate, user terminals may includean operating system (e.g., Windows XP, NT, 95/98/2000, OS2, UNIX, Linux,Solaris, MacOS, etc.) as well as various conventional support softwareand drivers typically associated with computers. The terminals mayinclude any suitable personal computer (“PC”), handheld device, tabletPC, network computer, workstation, minicomputer, cell-phone, mainframeor the like. A user terminal can be in a home or business environment ormay be a handheld device with access to a network. In an exemplaryembodiment, access is through a network or the Internet through acommercially-available web-browser software package.

With continued reference to FIG. 1, server 202 may host a fax deliveryapplication (such as Right Fax) or, alternatively may be connected to aseparate fax server 212. Fax server 212 may include any hardware and/orsoftware suitably configured to send and receive electronictransmissions of documents. Fax server 212 may be implemented throughcommercially available hardware and/or software, through custom hardwareand/or software components, or through a combination thereof. Fax server212 may be integrated within server 202 or may reside in any separateentity. Received faxes may be delivered electronically to user mailboxesfor review and optionally for attachment to corresponding patientrecords. Alternatively, character recognition may be used toautomatically associate incoming messages with certain user mailboxes orpatient files based on recognition of any number of character sets suchas a patient name, patient file number, or combinations of patientdemographic information. Additionally, input digitizer 214 may becoupled to server 202 for inputting digital data

Patient records database 206 may include any hardware and/or softwaresuitably configured to store patient records and associated filesincluding, for example, visit notes, transcriptions, reports,prescriptions, x-rays, history, bills, intake documents, insuranceinformation and the like. One skilled in the art will appreciate thatthe patient records database may employ any number of databases in anynumber of configurations. Authorized users may choose to view, edit orexport any part or all of a patient record from patient records database206 to a user mailbox, to a particular user terminal, to a printer orthrough any other means known in the art.

User access or authorization to view or alter information stored withinthe patient records database 206 may depend on various classificationsof patient information. For example, a more open class of informationmay consist of, for example, a patient's name, address, phone numberand/or time and date of medical visit and/or the like. On the otherhand, a more closed class of confidential patient information mayinclude, for example, insurance policy information, and reason forseeking the medical care, or any other information related to patienttreatment. Those skilled in the art may choose equally suitabledefinitions which are contemplated for use herein.

Classified information may be stored within the patient records database206 correlative to a distinct patient identifier. The classifiedinformation and the distinct patient identifier may be recorded in asingle data storage location in real-time as the patient provides theinformation. The single data storage location may then be used to trackthe medical facility patient traffic, recall a patient visit, or thelike.

Patient database 206 as discussed herein may include any type ofstructure, such as relational, hierarchical, graphical, object-oriented,and/or other database configurations. Various databases used herein maystore: patient data; care provider data; medical institution data;and/or like data useful in the operation of the invention. Commondatabase products that may be used to implement the databases includeDB2 by IBM (White Plains, N.Y.), various database products availablefrom Oracle Corporation (Redwood Shores, Calif.), Microsoft Access orMicrosoft SQL Server by Microsoft Corporation (Redmond, Wash.), or anyother suitable database product. Moreover, the databases may beorganized in any suitable manner, for example, as data tables or lookuptables. Each record may be a single file, a series of files, a linkedseries of data fields or any other data structure. Association ofcertain data may be accomplished through any desired data associationtechnique such as those known or practiced in the art. For example, theassociation may be accomplished either manually or automatically.Automatic association techniques may include, for example, a databasesearch, a database merge, GREP, AGREP, SQL, using a key field in thetables to speed searches, sequential searches through all the tables andfiles, sorting records in the file according to a known order tosimplify lookup, and/or the like. The association step may beaccomplished by a database merge function, for example, using a “keyfield” in pre-selected databases or data sectors.

More particularly, a “key field” partitions the database according tothe high-level class of objects defined by the key field. For example,certain types of data may be designated as a key field in a plurality ofrelated data tables and the data tables may then be linked on the basisof the type of data in the key field. The data corresponding to the keyfield in each of the linked data tables is preferably the same or of thesame type. However, data tables having similar, though not identical,data in the key fields may also be linked by using AGREP, for example.Any suitable data storage technique may be utilized to store datawithout a standard format. Data sets may be stored using any suitabletechnique, including, for example, storing individual files using anISO/IEC 7816-4 file structure; implementing a domain whereby a dedicatedfile is selected that exposes one or more elementary files containingone or more data sets; using data sets stored in individual files usinga hierarchical filing system; data sets stored as records in a singlefile (including compression, SQL accessible, hashed via one or morekeys, numeric, alphabetical by first tuple, etc.); Binary Large Object(BLOB); stored as ungrouped data elements encoded using ISO/IEC 7816-6data elements; stored as ungrouped data elements encoded using ISO/IECAbstract Syntax Notation (ASN.1) as in ISO/IEC 8824 and 8825; and/orother proprietary techniques that may include fractal compressionmethods, image compression methods, etc.

Data sets may include security information annotations for establishingvarious access levels. The access levels may, for example, be configuredto permit only certain individuals, levels of employees, companies, orother entities to access data sets. Furthermore, security information orother access restriction parameters may restrict/permit only certainuser specific actions such as accessing, modifying, and/or deleting datasets as appropriate.

A patient's basic information (e.g., name, address, insurance number,reason for visit, and any other minimal information related to thepatient visit) may be collected, anonymized, separated, analyzed,categorized, or minimally processed prior to the patient receivingmedical attention. Office staff may provide updated records andinformation, such as lab results or intake documentation to the doctorwithout interrupting the examination and without need for verbalcommunication.

User or patient authentication may include use of any device, code,number, letter, symbol, digital certificate, smart chip, digital signal,analog signal, biometric or other identifier/indicia suitably configuredto allow the authenticated access, interaction or communication with thesystem (e.g., one or more of an authorization/access code, personalidentification number (PIN), Internet code, other identification code,and/or the like). User identification may optionally be located on orassociated with a card, embossed card, smart card, magnetic stripe card,bar code card, transponder, or radio frequency card. The system mayinclude or interface with any of the foregoing cards or devices, or afob having a transponder and RFID reader in RF communication with thefob. The system may include any device having a transponder which isconfigured to communicate with RFID reader via RF communication. Typicaldevices may include, for example, a key ring, tag, card, cell phone,wristwatch or any such form capable of being presented forinterrogation.

Moreover, any system, computing unit or device discussed herein mayinclude a “pervasive computing device,” which may include atraditionally non-computerized device that is embedded with a computingunit. The user or patient identification may be distributed and storedin any form of plastic, electronic, magnetic, radio frequency, wireless,audio and/or optical device capable of transmitting or downloading datafrom itself to a second device.

As used herein, the term “network” shall include any electroniccommunications means which incorporates both hardware and softwarecomponents of such. Communication among the parties in accordance withthe invention may be accomplished through any suitable communicationchannels, such as, for example, a telephone network, an extranet, anintranet, Internet, point of interaction device (point of sale device,personal digital assistant, cellular phone, kiosk, etc.), onlinecommunications, satellite communications, off-line communications,wireless communications, transponder communications, local area network(LAN), wide area network (WAN), networked or linked devices, keyboard,mouse and/or any suitable communication or data input modality.Moreover, although the invention is frequently described herein as beingimplemented with TCP/IP communications protocols, the invention may alsobe implemented using IPX, Appletalk, IP-6, NetBIOS, OSI or any number ofexisting or future protocols. If the network is in the nature of apublic network, such as the Internet, it may be advantageous to presumethe network to be insecure and open to eavesdroppers. Specificinformation related to the protocols, standards, and applicationsoftware utilized in connection with the Internet is generally known tothose skilled in the art and, as such, need not be detailed herein. See,for example, DILIP NAIK, INTERNET STANDARDS AND PROTOCOLS (1998); JAVA 2COMPLETE, various authors, (Sybex 1999); DEBORAH RAY AND ERIC RAY,MASTERING HTML 4.0 (1997); and LOSHIN, TCP/IP CLEARLY EXPLAINED (1997)and DAVID GOURLEY AND BRIAN TOTTY, HTTP, THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE (2002),the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

The various system components may be independently, separately orcollectively suitably coupled to the network via data links whichincludes, for example, a connection to an Internet Service Provider(ISP) over the local loop as is typically used in connection withstandard modem communication, cable modem, Dish networks, ISDN, DigitalSubscriber Line (DSL), or various wireless communication methods, see,e.g., GILBERT HELD, UNDERSTANDING DATA COMMUNICATIONS (1996), which ishereby incorporated by reference. It is noted that the network may beimplemented as other types of networks, such as an interactivetelevision (ITV) network. Moreover, the system contemplates the use,sale or distribution of any goods, services or information over anynetwork having similar functionality described herein.

As used herein, “transmit” may include sending electronic data from onesystem component to another over a network connection. Additionally, asused herein, “data” may include encompassing information such ascommands, queries, files, data for storage, and the like in digital orany other form.

The invention contemplates uses in association with web services,utility computing, pervasive and individualized computing, security andidentity solutions, autonomic computing, commodity computing, mobilityand wireless solutions, open source, biometrics, grid computing and/ormesh computing.

One skilled in the art will also appreciate that, for security reasons,any databases, systems, devices, servers or other components of theinvention may consist of any combination thereof at a single location orat multiple locations, wherein each database or system includes any ofvarious suitable security features, such as firewalls, access codes,encryption, decryption, compression, decompression, and/or the like.

The computers discussed herein may provide a suitable website or otherInternet-based graphical user interface which is accessible by users. Inone embodiment, the Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS),Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS), and Microsoft SQL Server, are usedin conjunction with the Microsoft operating system, Microsoft NT webserver software, a Microsoft SQL Server database system, and a MicrosoftCommerce Server. Additionally, components such as Access or MicrosoftSQL Server, Oracle, Sybase, Informix MySQL, Interbase, etc., may be usedto provide an Active Data Object (ADO) compliant database managementsystem.

Any of the communications, inputs, storage, databases or displaysdiscussed herein may be facilitated through a website having web pages.The term “web page” as it is used herein is not meant to limit the typeof documents and applications that might be used to interact with theuser. For example, a typical website might include, in addition tostandard HTML documents, various forms, Java applets, JavaScript, activeserver pages (ASP), common gateway interface scripts (CGI), extensiblemarkup language (XML), dynamic HTML, cascading style sheets (CSS),helper applications, plug-ins, and the like. A server may include a webservice that receives a request from a web server, the request includinga URL (http://yahoo.com/stockquotes/ge) and an IP address (123.56.789).The web server retrieves the appropriate web pages and sends the data orapplications for the web pages to the IP address. Web services areapplications that are capable of interacting with other applicationsover a communications means, such as the internet. Web services aretypically based on standards or protocols such as XML, SOAP, WSDL andUDDI. Web services methods are well known in the art, and are covered inmany standard texts. See, e.g., ALEX NGHIEM, IT WEB SERVICES: A ROADMAPFOR THE ENTERPRISE (2003), hereby incorporated by reference.

The invention may be described herein in terms of functional blockcomponents, screen shots, optional selections and various processingsteps. It should be appreciated that such functional blocks may berealized by any number of hardware and/or software components configuredto perform the specified functions. For example, the invention mayemploy various integrated circuit components, e.g., memory elements,processing elements, logic elements, look-up tables, and the like, whichmay carry out a variety of functions under the control of one or moremicroprocessors or other control devices. Similarly, the softwareelements of the invention may be implemented with any programming orscripting language such as C, C++, Java, Macromedia ColdFusion,Microsoft Active Server Pages, COBOL, assembler, PERL, Visual Basic, SQLStored Procedures, extensible markup language (XML), with the variousalgorithms being implemented with any combination of data structures,objects, processes, routines or other programming elements. Further, itshould be noted that the invention may employ any number of conventionaltechniques for data transmission, signaling, data processing, networkcontrol, and the like. Still further, the invention could be used todetect or prevent security issues with a client-side scripting language,such as JavaScript, VBScript or the like. For a basic introduction ofcryptography and network security, see any of the following references:(1) “Applied Cryptography: Protocols, Algorithms, And Source Code In C,”by Bruce Schneier, published by John Wiley & Sons (second edition,1995); (2) “Java Cryptography” by Jonathan Knudson, published byO'Reilly & Associates (1998); (3) “Cryptography & Network Security:Principles & Practice” by William Stallings, published by Prentice Hall;all of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

As will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, theinvention may be embodied as a customization of an existing system, anadd-on product, upgraded software, a stand alone system, a distributedsystem, a method, a data processing system, a device for dataprocessing, and/or a computer program product. Accordingly, theinvention may take the form of an entirely software embodiment, anentirely hardware embodiment, or an embodiment combining aspects of bothsoftware and hardware. Furthermore, the invention may take the form of acomputer program product on a computer-readable storage medium havingcomputer-readable program code means embodied in the storage medium. Anysuitable computer-readable storage medium may be utilized, includinghard disks, CD-ROM, optical storage devices, magnetic storage devices,and/or the like.

The invention is described herein with reference to screen shots, blockdiagrams and flowchart illustrations of methods, apparatus (e.g.,systems), and computer program products according to various aspects ofthe invention. It will be understood that each functional block of theblock diagrams and the flowchart illustrations, and combinations offunctional blocks in the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations,respectively, can be implemented by computer program instructions.

These computer program instructions may be loaded onto a general purposecomputer, special purpose computer, or other programmable dataprocessing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructionsthat execute on the computer or other programmable data processingapparatus create means for implementing the functions specified in theflowchart block or blocks. These computer program instructions may alsobe stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablememory produce an article of manufacture including instruction meanswhich implement the function specified in the flowchart block or blocks.The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series ofoperational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmableapparatus to produce a computer-implemented process such that theinstructions which execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in theflowchart block or blocks.

Accordingly, functional blocks of the block diagrams and flowchartillustrations support combinations of means for performing the specifiedfunctions, combinations of steps for performing the specified functions,and program instruction means for performing the specified functions. Itwill also be understood that each functional block of the block diagramsand flowchart illustrations, and combinations of functional blocks inthe block diagrams and flowchart illustrations, can be implemented byeither special purpose hardware-based computer systems which perform thespecified functions or steps, or suitable combinations of specialpurpose hardware and computer instructions. Further, illustrations ofthe process flows and the descriptions thereof may make reference touser windows, webpages, websites, web forms, prompts, etc. Practitionerswill appreciate that the illustrated steps described herein may comprisein any number of configurations including the use of windows, webpages,web forms, popup windows, prompts and the like. It should be furtherappreciated that the multiple steps as illustrated and described may becombined into single webpages and/or windows but have been expanded forthe sake of simplicity. In other cases, steps illustrated and describedas single process steps may be separated into multiple webpages and/orwindows but have been combined for simplicity.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a flow chart depicts the use of color codingaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the invention. A user such as afront desk attendant or physician selects the available examinationrooms that are to be used for patient visits that day. (step 112). Allavailable rooms may be listed, for example, as selectable radio buttons.Selected rooms may be initially coded green to indicate that they arevacant. In this example, the user then assigns a checked-in patient toroom three. (step 114). The assigned room is then coded to indicate theparticular physician that will be attending to the patient assigned tothat room. This is helpful in clinics with numerous physicians andnumerous examination rooms. Thus, users at any terminal may instantlyknow which rooms are occupied and what physicians are assigned to eachroom.

The attending physician may order certain tasks, such as, for example,x-rays, injections, casts, therapy, blood tests, or any number of otherprocedures. (step 116). Each task or procedure is associated with aparticular color. The color may be updated to reflect a series of tasksas they are requested, completed, and reviewed. (step 118). Coding theexamination room identifier to correspond with a particular task orprocedure allows technicians to efficiently receive and carry outphysician orders. Different users may be presented with different colorschemes. For example, if a physician orders a blood test (correspondingto blue) and x-rays (corresponding to yellow) for a patient in roomthree, the testing lab terminal would show room three coded blue whilethe x-ray lab terminal would show room three coded yellow. Thephysician's personal terminal may show the room as either blue or yellowaccording to the preferences set by the physician as to the priority(chronological, urgent, longest lead time, etc.) to be given assignedtasks. For example, if rooms are coded according to the first ordergiven, the physician terminal room identifier would remain blue untilthe blood tests were completed. If the x-rays were not yet completed,the room would then appear yellow until the x-rays were also completed.When both tasks are completed, the room color reverts back to thephysician's identifying color. Thus, the physician and staff mayinstantly know the status of ordered tasks.

Additionally, charges associated with each task may be automaticallyentered on the checkout sheet for billing. Automatic or “passive” chargeentry for each task or billable service, thus, ensures that all billablecharges during a patient visit are accurately captured and recorded.

Selecting a particular room identifier may show all tasks currentlyassociated with that room. This system improves office efficiency asmultiple users with various responsibilities relating to a patientassigned to a room may independently be notified of and report on tasksassigned to them. Upon completion of patient check-out and all assignedtasks, the room identifier is again displayed as vacant. (step 120).Staff may also manually reset room three again to reflect its vacancy,and may then assign another patient to the room. This is a significantimprovement over the traditional verbal communication office network.This is just one example of improved efficiency offered by theinvention.

Users may automatically be directed to certain pages related to theirjob assignments. Alternatively, users may define what is to be theirhomepage within the system. For example, a transcriptionist may beautomatically directed to the dictation/transcription page upon loggingin, or may set another system page as the default homepage. Helpdialogue boxes may be displayed by positioning the mouse over or byselecting a help icon or by clicking help in the menu bar. Since thesystem is web based, conventional web browser application and menufunctions are available on most any screen or window within the system.Any menu, list, or the like may include options to edit and expandlisted options. Any blank list, screen, field, or dialogue box mayinclude default language indicating that the field, file, etc. is empty.

Any number of features represented by different tabs, list item, linksand the like, may be accessible from any number of interactive screens.Comments fields and standard menu or action links may likewise becross-linked or associated with any displayed information, field, orother links. Entry of information in any of the described fields may beaccompanied by a summary or confirmation page. As a web-basedapplication, the system includes conventional browser and file menuoptions such as find, browse, edit, format and view functions.Auto-completion may be enabled for certain fields and defaults forothers may be preset or user defined. For example, the current date maybe automatically entered in any date field, yet still provide foralteration by a user.

Tabs, icons, list items, menu items, radio buttons, etc. may be usedinterchangeably and may be fully customizable, for example, as tonumber, title, contents, cross-references, and the like. Menu andpull-down lists may contain editing options such as “Edit this menu” or“Add new Item.” Screens, windows, and dialogue boxes may refresh uponcompletion of certain tasks, upon depressing a mouse button or enterkey, or may simply refresh at preset time intervals. Any window, screen,or document may be exported, printed, emailed, or saved. Passwords maybe required for access at any given system level or feature providingincreased security or privacy. For example, available options, features,and links may be determined by administrative authorizations assigned toindividual users. Encryption may also be used to increase security.

FIG. 3 depicts an exemplary screen shot from a physician's Tablet PCshowing an exemplary presentation of system features including the colorcoding and task management application features introduced above. Orderpage 300 includes selectable room identifiers 302, and selectablepatient “chart” tabs: Notes 304, Reports 306, Insurance 308, Images 310,Orders 312, Checkout 314, and Info 316. Additional selectable screenfeatures may include Macros 318, Alerts 320, Add Note 322, and Export324. Each selectable tab, pull-down menu item, radio button, or otherselectable feature may appear on more than one screen and may becustomizable as to appearance, order, authorization, and the like asknow in the art.

Selection of the Orders 312 tab returns additional tabs: X-rays 326,Tests 328, Injections 330, Surgeries 332, Casts 324 and Prescriptions336. Each tab found under Order tab 312 may include any number ofpull-down menus allowing a physician to readily select the desired tasksor procedures. For example, selection of X-ray tab 326 returns a screenhaving a number of fields, some including pull-down menus listingfrequently x-rayed body parts (e.g. knee, elbow, ankle) and standardizedviews (e.g. AP/LAT, right, left, bilateral). Multiple x-rays orders maythus be submitted to the x-ray lab. The x-ray lab technician may thusinstantly receive notice of the physician's order by the associatedchange in color of room identifier 302. Each room identifier 302 may beindividually coded to reflect pending orders associated with the roomand selection of any room identifier 302 may return a detailed listingof pending and/or completed orders. For example, order detail pages mayinclude patient demographic information, procedures to be performed,associated charges, care provider, date and time of order, and who is toperform the ordered task. Interactive task buttons may allow techniciansto accept an order, accept and complete an order, or update an order.Users may cancel orders as well. Associated charges for a completedorder may be automatically placed in the patient's checkout sheet andbilling statement.

Similarly, Test tab 328 displays pull-down menus offering MRIs, CTs,Epidurals, blood tests, and the like. Practitioners will appreciate thatany number of different tests or procedures may be listed and organizedaccording to the needs of a particular medical office. Injections tab330 may provide lists of various body parts and injectable compounds forselection by a physician. It is contemplated that pharmaceuticalapplications may be integrated into the system to track current patientmedications and to help doctors avoid incompatibilities in orderingmedications or issuing prescriptions. The system may even suggestoptional medications for various orders. Selection of Surgeries tab 332provides lists of available procedures categorized, for example, by bodypart and then by related procedures. General applications that may beappreciated by those skilled in the art in light of the presentdisclosure are not described in detail herein.

Selection of Casts tab 334 provides lists of various casts, braces, andsplints organized by body part. Selection of Prescriptions tab 336provides selectable lists of prescriptions. Prescription orders mayautomatically be transmitted to the patient's pharmacy of record or toan onsite pharmacy terminal. It should be apparent, that any relevanttask, procedure, medication, or other medical requirement may besimilarly organized and offered in conjunction with any organizationalhierarchy within the system.

Returning to the patient “chart” tabs set forth above, Notes tab 304lists physician visit, diagnosis, and treatment notes. Reports tab 306presents various completed task summaries and lab results and the like.Insurance tab 308 provides access to patient insurance information, suchas a photocopy of the patient's insurance card. Images tab 310 providesaccess to any images such as x-rays, MRIs, CT scans, copies of insurancecards and the like. JPEG, TIFF, BITMAP, or other image formats may beused to store and display various patient images. The images need not beof diagnosis quality, but may serve only as a place holder or referenceto the actual images on file with a particular x-ray or MRI lab.Different images may be selected for viewing just as document selectionwas described above.

Orders tab 312 has already been explored in detail above. Checkout tab314 provides access to a checkout sheet listing additional interactivetabs labeled Diagnosis, Work Restrictions, Follow Up and Charges. ADiagnosis tab may include categorized and/or searchable ICD-9 diagnoses.A Work Restrictions tab may list varying work duty levels andrecommended periods for different work duty levels to accommodaterecuperation or disabilities. A Follow Up tab may list various returnappointment times. A Charges tab may list various patient billingclassifications. A Check-out Sheet may list orders, order status, orderreports, and order charges.

Referring now to FIG. 5, the present system also provides improvedefficiency in document management. For example, follow-up or doctorordered paperwork can be generated or retrieved for delivery or doctorreview even before the patient visit is over. The system may include adocument management screen similar to “To Do List” 500. To Do List 500may be part of a comprehensive electronic personal management andmailbox system similar to Microsoft Outlook®. A user may select fromvarious document category tabs, such as, for example a “Pending YourApproval” tab 502, a “Personal” tab, a “Dictate Later” tab, a “MissedDictation” tab, or any number of desired category tabs. Users reviewingdocuments under Pending Your Approval tab 502 may select from default orcustomized status or “Document Disposition” buttons 504 such as “Finethe way it is,” “Delete,” Mark Unapproved,” and “Mark as Mis-filed” andmay thus update the record accordingly. Documents may be associated witha patient file either before or after physician review. For example,documents may be automatically marked as “reviewed” and removed from aphysician's Pending Your Approval mailbox list if an authorizedphysician views the document instead as part of the patient record.

The following description tracks the path or progress of a hypotheticaluser through an exemplary medical facility management system. To begin,a secure login page may require a unique user identification andpassword or any other secure authentication known in the art. The systemmay prompt users to alter their passwords from time to time to enhancesecurity or may even suggest various examples of password progressionschemes. Users may login at multiple terminals or alternatively anadministrator may limit users to a single access point. Additionalsecurity may be provided by a timed logout or screen saver after a setperiod of inactivity. Users may logout manually by selecting or“clicking” a marker or icon such as the familiar X symbol found in theupper right hand corner of many applications. Any activity such as userlogout, file deletion, visit or order cancellation may includeconfirmation screens or dialogue boxes to prevent inadvertentcancellations and the like. For example, a logout attempt may requireconfirmation by clicking “OK” or “Yes, logout” in a dialogue box.Additional security features may be provided in compliance with thefederal HIPAA requirements. These features are variable by users toobtain the desired level of privacy and confidentiality according tooffice policies.

Successful login provides network or web access to a primary screen or“home page” listing at least one clinic or office (“location”).Locations may be listed in a drop-down or pull-down menu or asindividual selectable tabs or icons. Selection of a location returns alist or visualization of all or select rooms at that location. A usermay opt to continue without selecting any rooms. Any screen may providelinks to any number of other interactive screens through a series oftabs, icons, links, menu, pull-down menus, and the like.

One such interactive screen may represent a clinic's “Front Desk” likethat shown in FIG. 4. Staff at a clinic front desk may remain loggedinto the Front Desk 400 screen during clinic hours. Front Desk 400screen includes fields or tables listing checked in patients 402,checked out patients 404, and a patient search field 406. Patient searchfield 406 may return patient records or patient status indicators basedon entry of a patient's name, birthday, or alpha-numeric identifier orother demographic information. Searches may be conducted with onlypartial field entries, such as the first three letters of a patientname. Additional search options or searchable categories may be providedunder an “Advanced Search” 408 option including fields for socialsecurity number (“SSN”), allergies, city, state, zip code, insurancecarrier, phone number, email, comment, date added, or other searchabletypes of information used in the art.

A successful patient search may enable a “Check In” link that can beused to add the patient to Checked In list 402, as well as providingother “Actions” links. An unsuccessful patient search may enable anadditional link titled “Click here to add a new patient.” Clicking thelink may return an Add Patient Record Form. Add Patient Record Forms mayonly require certain information such as first and last name, date ofbirth, allergies and co-pay or may include any number of optionalfields. One optional field may provide for cross-references to patientID numbers from preexisting management software. Other optional fieldsmay include any of the advanced search fields described above, as wellas referring physician information, comments, or any other customizedfield. This information is then submitted for electronic storage andprocessing. A patient information summary screen may be generated forconfirmation. Once a new patient record is set up, any number of actionlinks may be provided such as “Check In,” “Upload documents for thispatient,” or “Return to front desk.” Selection of “Check In” may promptthe user to select a provider and to enter a co-pay disposition.

Front Desk 400 displays Checked in Patients 402 field including names ofpatients, whether in a waiting room or exam room, as well as thecorresponding provider, room number, and time elapsed. Various “Actions”links may associate certain editorial or operational functions with eachpatient. For example, an “Edit” 410 option may allow a user to alterinformation fields in a patient record. An “Attach” 412 option mayassociate additional records or tasks with a patient record. Forexample, clicking “Attach” 412 link may return an upload window where auser may browse to locate or simply enter a file name to be uploaded. An“Alerts” 414 link may list events or status changes for a particularpatient. A similar link may list medical sensitivities such asallergies, medications, genetic family medical histories or lifethreatening conditions.

Staff may assign a patient in Checked In list 402 to a room by selectingan “Assign” link and/or checking a radio button corresponding to thedesired room. A separate window may show the availability of variousrooms, or a color coding system like that described above may be used toindicate room availability. A “Change Room” 416 link may allow staff toquickly reassign a patient to a new room. Similarly, a “Cancel” 418 linkmay be used to quickly remove patients from a field or list.

Front Desk Checked out Patients 404 fields may include the provider,total of patient visits, co-pay payment status, visit times, and thelike. Associated “Actions” fields may include editing, attachment, oralerts options as described herein. Other “Actions” may include viewingor changing co-pay status/method, follow-up scheduling and accessing apatient checkout sheet. Checkout sheets may include fields andinformation such as ICD-9 Diagnoses, Charges, Work Restrictions,Follow-up Appointments and the like. Checkout sheets may be customizableto further include fields for Injections, Prescriptions, X-rays,Specialist Referrals, and Co-payments. Co-pay dispositions may list theamount and method of payment including, for example, check, charge,cash, bill later, or “not required.” A “Reference Name or Number” fieldmay be used to record a check number or credit card authorizationnumber.

Paper documents may be scanned into any number of formats and associatedwith a patient file. For example, completed patient intake paperwork maybe placed in a scanner and converted into PDF, JPEG, or other fileformats. Audio files such as physician dictations may also be associatedwith a client file. Documents may be scanned for character objectrecognition. The files may then be named and associated with a patientfile, or, alternatively may be automatically named based on manual orautomatic association with a patient identifier. In other words, a filemay be manually named and then attached or the document type may bespecified and the remainder of the file name may be generated uponattachment to a particular patient file. A default folder such as adesktop “Scans” folder may be used to store converted files prior tonaming and/or attachment. Preprinted forms may include enable characterrecognition software to automatically detect a document type (notes,reports, insurance, intake, check-out, privacy policy, etc) or even toautomatically associate a scanned file to a patient file. Documents mayalso be assigned or “mailed” to a provider, any user, location, etc.,for review or other tasks.

All system screens may include various standard tabs such as Search,Task List, Utilities, and Front Desk tabs along with a series of colorcoded room buttons. Patient specific tabs include Notes, Reports,Insurance, Images, Orders, Checkout, Info, Macros, Alerts, Add Note, andExport. A Provider Functions screen may be organized like a common paperchart with multiple tabs and buttons such as Room Number Buttons, ChartTabs, Chart Buttons, Button Status, and Bringing Up a Chart button.Chart Tabs may include a Notes Tab, Reports Tab, Pull Down Menus, Rightand Left arrows, Document Status Button, and Document Status Window. ANotes Tab may list intake documents and dictation transcriptions while aReports Tab connects to MRI reports, Operation reports, etc. Pull-downmenu lists may be used to list available documents under a given tab,for example in reverse chronological order. Documents may be selectedfor viewing from the pull-down menu by clicking on the document title,or on the on-screen arrows, or by use of the keyboard arrows. A “DocStatus” button may display the status of a document and allow user tomake changes.

As described earlier, color coding or “flagging” of room identifierssuch as Room Number Buttons may identify different providers, medicalassistants, technicians, different tasks to be performed (e.g. x-ray,cast, therapy) as well as a room's status (vacant, occupied). Forexample, a first color indicates that the room is vacant, a second colorindicates that a room is assigned to a provider, and a third colorindicates that an Order has been placed with a particular lab ortechnician. Placing the cursor over a room may reveal additionalinformation, including, for example, the name of a patient, the assignedprovider, check-in time, and the next Order for the patient. Orders mayinclude requests for x-rays, procedures, tests, casts, injections andprescriptions. A room may remain colored according to an Order until theOrder is filled, even after a patient has been checked out. Clicking ona room number button may also bring up the chart for the patientassigned to that room. The last generated document or the last enterednotes may appear first on this chart.

A user may select the desired Order from various pull-down menus asdiscussed earlier. Pull-down menus may be customizable to includeadditional Orders. Additionally, an Order preview screen is providedwith fields for additional instructions, details, or notes. Providersmay then select either an “Accept this Order” button placing the orderin the Task List for back office staff to complete, or an “Accept andComplete This Order” button, in which case the task is marked ascompleted and is not placed on the Task List. Charges associated withdifferent Orders may be automatically listed on the Checkout Sheet. Backstaff may then indicate when an Order has been filled and a completerecord, including notes, completion time, charges, etc., appears on theOrders screen. An “Update This Order” button may allow users to add orselect task specific information and update the Order to reflect thechanges. The available Orders lists and their titles may be fullycustomizable to suit users. For example, an “Add New Order” optionprovides access to an “Add Order” form with fields for pertinentinformation, including associated charges and assigning what user is toperform the task. Associated charges may be broken out into a number ofcategories, and may each receive a corresponding CPT code (Ex.97806—Ankle X-ray). Added Orders may be for a single occurrence or maybe added permanently to the drop-down list of Orders. Orders maylikewise be deleted from the drop-down list of available Orders, whichis different from canceling an Order after it has been placed. ToCheckout a Patient, front desk staff may click a Checkout tab and selectall pertinent items from the menus to display. The system may providereminders when it detects that an office visit code has not beenentered.

Once a patient file has been selected, users may be presented withvarious tab options including: Info, Alerts, Add Note, Export, Search,and Macros. The Info tab provides viewing or editing access to patientinformation. The Alerts tab lists events and provides reminders to staffof events that may not otherwise be part of the patient record. Alertsmay be assigned different start dates, end dates or durations of hours,days, weeks, or months. Alerts may be categorized by type and may listActions to be taken. These alerts may be viewed from both a Front Deskscreen, a Checkout screen, and/or a patient's Chart screen. The Add Notetab allows for attachment of a document to a patient file or addition ofnotes to another user's mailbox. The Export tab allows a user to exporta patient's chart including selected Notes, Reports, Studies, andCheckout Sheets. The Export feature may export various patient chartdocuments from different file formats into a single file, for example,in Adobe PDF format, with each page in the file representing anindividual document in the chart. The Macros tab allows access to editmacro fields.

The system may provide each user a personal mailbox. Provider mailboxesmay include additional organization or document management features suchas the “Pending Your Approval,” “Personal,” “Dictate Later,” and “MissedDictation” tabs discussed earlier. For example, documents may be flaggedfor later review by a physician or may be automatically sent to thephysicians “Pending Your Approval” folder. Any conventional email systemoptions may be available through user mailbox accounts within thesystem. Users may alter the status of documents by selecting designatorsor options such as “Fine the way it is,” “Delete,” “Mark Approved,” and“Mark as Misfiled.” Misfiled documents may be sent to a “Clerical”mailbox to be properly filed. Approved documents may be electronicallytime/date stamped and removed from the Pending Approval list.Significantly, a document may be removed from the Pending Approval mailfolder automatically when the authorized provider reviews the documentin viewing the patient record. Documents may be approved individually orin batches. A warning may be displayed upon checkout if there are stillunapproved documents associated with a patient record.

Task List Buttons show pending Orders listed by category (x-ray, cast,etc.) and then by time of the Order. Once a task is completed, theauthorized user selects a Done button to reflect the new Order status,automatically triggering the addition of associated charges to thepatient Checkout Sheet. A user assigned an Order may view the patientinformation by clicking on the Room button. Clicking a Cancel orderbutton removes the Order from the list without placing charges on theCheckout Sheet. The Task List also lists patients who are checked in butwho have not yet been assigned a room. Clicking the “Assign” link underthe Room heading may provide a pop-up window for selection fromavailable rooms.

A multiple transcription upload function may facilitate uploading of asingle transcription file containing transcriptions for multiplepatients, which are then split off into individual files for eachpatient, and automatically filed for each patient. The system separatesindividual patient transcriptions based on any number of availableinformation fields such as patient name or account number.Transcriptions may be bounded by a set header with characters sets suchas asterisks, or set terms such as “end doc” and “start doc.” Blanketnotes or additional headers may be applied to all transcriptions thatfollow in a file by placing the blanket information in a certainlocation (ahead of the first header), or between certain characters atthe beginning of the document. System server integrity checks may beenabled to ensure that required fields, formatting, and characters arepresent before the server will allow document uploading. Additionally,minor errors may trigger error reports associated with the file, whilenot hindering an upload. Documents with error reports may be placed inan unassigned transcription folder for manual attaching. HTM formatfiles created by Microsoft Word or other formats known in the art may beused. All transcriptions may thus be automatically placed into aphysicians system mailbox for approval.

A Utilities Functions screen may display various task buttons including“Billing/Encounter Points,” “Work With Unassigned Documents,” “Upload aDocument for Review,” “Checkout Reports,” “Reset Room,” “Search SPTCodes,” “Search ICD-9 Codes,” “Edit Macros,” and “Edit Orders Menus.”

The Billing/Encounter Points button provides access to Checkout Sheetsfor billing purposes. Checkout Sheets may be retrieved or ordered byvarious criteria such as location, provider, and/or date and mayselectively include associated documentation such as intake documents,office visit notes, previous bills and the like. Reported informationmay then constitute a record of the patients visiting a medical facilityover a particular time period. Such information may be useful, forexample, for later recounting the list of patients who have visited on aparticular day and time, a particular patient visit, tracking the numberof patients seen during a particular time frame, or the like. The WorkWith Unassigned Documents button allows for review of uploaded documentsthat are not yet assigned to a patient record. This area may havenumerous subsections such as faxes, transcriptions, and uploadeddocuments. Faxes may be automatically converted (as with the Right Faxproduct) to PDF format and delivered to the mailbox of a designatedrecipient. Documents from any of the subsections may be attached to apatient record, deleted, stored, edited, replaced, or sent to usermailboxes.

The Upload a Document for Review button allows for uploading ofdocuments (administrative and personal documents) to the server withoutattaching them to a patient record. The Checkout Reports buttongenerates copies of checkout reports for use by accounting oradministration. The reports may be categorized by location, providerand/or date. The Reset Room button may be used to correct the status ofa vacant room that is incorrectly shown as occupied, possibly due tomultiple room assignments, incorrect checkout, or other causes. TheSearch CPT and ICD-9 Codes buttons allows users to search and assignproper payment codes and costs, including the latest Medicare conversionfactor and geographic region calculations. The Macros button is a timesaving feature allowing users to establish sets of orders or tasks to beexecuted by a single command. For example, a physician may initiate aset of predefined Orders with a single click. The Edit Orders Menusbutton allows users to categorize menus and submenus under both theorders and checkout areas by editing, adding, and deleting listedorders. For example, an added order may be titled and may include adescription of what is to be accomplished, who is to perform thedescribed tasks and set out the associated charges.

An “Alerts” feature may be used to remind office staff of particularpatient events. For example, a patient alert may signal that there areto be no additional office visit charges for 90 days following aparticular operation. The staff then knows when to begin collectingco-payment and to continue billing. Similar alerts may indicate when areferral expires or when a past visit remains unpaid. Alerts mayoptionally become part of the patients permanent record. Alerts may beset by clicking the “Alerts” link next to a patient name in a chart. Theuser then enters the start date, end time/date, the text of the alert,and whether it is to be displayed on the Check-in, Checkout, or otherscreens.

Although the present patient invention is described with respect tomedical facilities management (e.g., patient/room and patient recordsmanagement), the invention is not so limited. That is, it iscontemplated that the invention may be used to manage any similarfacility having a flow of patients or clients and associateddocumentation.

Benefits, other advantages, and solutions to problems have beendescribed herein with regard to specific embodiments. However, thebenefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any element(s) that maycause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become morepronounced are not to be construed as critical, required, or essentialfeatures or elements of any or all the claims or the invention. Thescope of the invention is accordingly to be limited by nothing otherthan the appended claims. All structural and functional equivalents tothe elements of the above-described exemplary embodiments that are knownto those of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated hereinby reference and are intended to be encompassed by the present claims.Further, no element described herein is required for the practice of theinvention unless expressly described as “essential” or “critical.”

It should be understood, however, that the detailed description andspecific examples, indicating exemplary embodiments of the invention,are given for purposes of illustration only and not as limitations. Manychanges and modifications within the scope of the instant invention maybe made without departing from the spirit thereof, and the inventionincludes all such modifications. Corresponding structures, materials,acts, and equivalents of all elements in the claims below are intendedto include any structure, material, or acts for performing the functionsin combination with other claim elements as specifically claimed. Thescope of the invention should be determined by the appended claims andtheir legal equivalents, rather than by the examples given above.

1. A computer-implemented medical facilities management systemcomprising: at least one user interface configured to display acolor-coded room identifier for an examination room and transmit userinput to a server over at least one network, wherein the at least oneuser interface is configured to receive user input indicating a firstordered medical task and a second ordered medical task associated with apatient assigned to the examination room; and a server hosting aweb-based medical office management software application coupled to saidat least one user interface over the at least one network, wherein saidoffice management application is configured to, assign to the displayedroom identifier, a first color associated with the first ordered medicaltask, and automatically update the displayed room identifier to thefirst color, receive an indication that the first ordered medical taskis complete, from at least one user interface, upon receiving theindication that the first ordered medical task is complete,automatically assign the displayed room identifier a second colorassociated with the second ordered medical task and automatically updatethe displayed room identifier, receive an indication that the secondordered medical task is complete, from at least one user interface, uponreceiving the indication that the second ordered medical task iscomplete, automatically assign the displayed room identifier a thirdcolor indicating that all tasks among a plurality of tasks are completeand automatically update the displayed room identifier to the thirdcolor, receive a selection of the room identifier from at least one userinterface, and in response to receiving the selection, transmit a listto at least one user interface, the list including the first orderedmedical task and the second ordered medical task.
 2. The system of claim1, wherein said room identifier is color coded according to whether saidfirst ordered medical task is at least one of assigned, scheduled,begun, performed, suspended, completed, and reported by at least one ofmedical care providers, medical staff, office staff and medicaltechnicians.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein said office managementapplication is further configured to facilitate color coding ofexamination room identifiers according to examination room status of atleast one of vacant, occupied, patient checked-in, patient checked-out,physician occupied, in need of cleaning, and out-of-use.
 4. The systemof claim 1, wherein said office management application is furtherconfigured to facilitate color coding of examination room identifiersaccording to an identity of at least one of a care provider, assistant,technician, medical staff member, and office staff member assigned to atleast one of a room, an ordered medical task, and a patient associatedwith said examination room.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein said atleast one user interface is rendered on a user terminal that is at leastone of a desktop computer, laptop computer, tablet PC, handheld device,and a cellular phone.
 6. A computer-implemented method of communicatinginformation about an examination room of a medical facility, the methodcomprising: hosting, by a host server, a web-based medical officemanagement software application that displays a room identifier for theexamination room, the web-based application accessible by at least oneuser terminal over at least one network; receiving, through theweb-based application over the at least one network, by the host server,user input that specifies a first ordered medical task and a secondordered medical task for a patient assigned to the examination room;assigning, by the host server, to the displayed room identifier, a firstcolor associated with the first ordered medical task, and automaticallyupdating, by the host server, the displayed room identifier to the firstcolor; receiving, through the web-based application over the at leastone network, by the host server, an indication that the first orderedmedical task is complete, from at least one user terminal; uponreceiving the indication that the first ordered medical task iscomplete, automatically assigning, by the host server, the displayedroom identifier a second color associated with the second orderedmedical task and automatically updating, by the host server, thedisplayed room identifier; receiving, through the web-based applicationover the at least one network, by the host server, an indication thatthe second ordered medical task is complete, from at least one userterminal; upon receiving the indication that the second ordered medicaltask is complete, automatically assigning, by the host server, thedisplayed room identifier a third color indicating that all tasks amonga plurality of tasks are complete and automatically updating, by thehost server, the displayed room identifier to the third color;receiving, by the host server over the at least one network, a selectionof the room identifier from at least one user terminal; and in responseto receiving the selection, transmitting, by the host server over the atleast one network, a list to at least one user terminal, the listincluding the first ordered medical task and the second ordered medicaltask.
 7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, further comprisingcoding room identifiers differently on different user terminals toconvey information specific to an ordered medical task to which therespective user terminal corresponds.
 8. The computer-implemented methodof claim 6, further comprising: automatically recording associatedcharges for the first and second ordered medical tasks for billing uponcompletion of the first and second ordered medical tasks.
 9. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 6, further comprising: coordinatinga color of said at least one room identifier according to at least oneof patient medical condition, patient medical alerts, and completedordered medical tasks.
 10. A host server comprising a processor and amemory coupled to the processor, wherein the host server is configuredto execute a computer-implemented method of communicating informationabout an examination room of a medical facility, the method comprising:hosting, by the host server, a web-based medical office managementsoftware application that displays a room identifier for the examinationroom, the web-based application accessible by at least one user terminalover at least one network; receiving, through the web-based applicationover the at least one network, by the host server, user input thatspecifies a first ordered medical task and a second ordered medical taskfor a patient assigned to the examination room; assigning, by the hostserver, to the displayed room identifier, a first color associated withthe first ordered medical task, and automatically updating, by the hostserver, the displayed room identifier to the first color; receiving,through the web-based application over the at least one network, by thehost server, an indication that the first ordered medical task iscomplete, from at least one user terminal; upon receiving the indicationthat the first ordered medical task is complete, automaticallyassigning, by the host server, the displayed room identifier a secondcolor associated with the second ordered medical task and automaticallyupdating, by the host server, the displayed room identifier; receiving,through the web-based application over the at least one network, by thehost server, an indication that the second ordered medical task iscomplete, from at least one user terminal; upon receiving the indicationthat the second ordered medical task is complete, automaticallyassigning, by the host server, the displayed room identifier a thirdcolor indicating that all tasks among a plurality of tasks are completeand automatically updating, by the host server, the displayed roomidentifier to the third color; receiving, by the host server over the atleast one network, a selection of the room identifier from at least oneuser terminal; and in response to receiving the selection, transmitting,by the host server over the at least one network, a list to at least oneuser terminal, the list including the first ordered medical task and thesecond ordered medical task.